2015 – 009 Russian connection to Anti Fracking activists ?

Political blog
by Bishop Hill
Antifracking: the Russian connection ?
Jan 28, 2015
Energy: gas Foreign
Via Instapundit comes an article from the Washington Free Beacon which reports that money is being funnelled to anti-fracking activists by a mysterious company in Bermuda with links to the Russian oil business:

A shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a hedge fund management firm that has invested heavily in Russian oil and gas. He is also senior counsel at the Bermudan law firm Wakefield Quin and the vice president of a London-based investment firm whose president until recently chaired the board of the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft.

The findings are based on a report by the US Environmental Policy Alliance. I don’t think a fire has been found yet, but the quantities of smoke are prodigious.

Update on Jan 28, 2015 by Registered CommenterBishop Hill
A little Googling shows that Hans-Joerg Rudloff, the chairman of Marcuard, a UK company named in the report, is a former director of Barclays Capital and a close associate of Suleiman Kerimov, who is a significant shareholder in Gazprom.

The following excerpt is from a summary of private paid for speeches made by Hillary to supporters;

…

Clinton Talked About “Phony Environmental Groups” Funded By The Russians To Stand Against Pipelines And Fracking.“We were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media. We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you, and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia.” [Remarks at tinePublic, 6/18/14]

Next time a radical rent-a-green group protests a local fracking operation, ask them why they don’t have a day job – how they can afford to spend months at a time away from home, disrupting everyone elses lives. But don’t be surprised, if you don’t receive a clear answer to your question.